Welcome to Indigo Inklings. This is where I talk about some of my rubber stamping projects and digital graphics. My blog name comes from the fact that I love the color indigo, and I think the notion of inklings covers my introspective side as well as my love for getting inky with my projects. I hope you find something here to interest or inspire you.

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

diagonal Cuttling for Cuttlebug users

More equal time for Cuttlebug users since I haven't put the machine away yet. This is for those of you who either don't have the long Sizzix plates or didn't go out and find some for trying out diagonal Cuttling. I was browsing Michael's today because I'd needed to buy some Mod Podge for a project that I'm working on. I cruised by the wood die cut aisle to see if there was anything fun to pick up while I was there. I had a 20% off my entire non-sale purchase coupon that I'd received via email, so small, inexpensive things were finding their way into my basket.

One of the things that I found was a door hanger that cost me 79 cents, less 20% since it wasn't on sale. Man, can I shop or what?! ;-) Now mind you, this is about 1/2" wider than the long Sizzix plates, but I thought it could work.

Those are the materials that I used: the CB, A plate, B plate, A2 size card, Cuttlebug embossing folder, wood door hanger.

I know you have this down by now, but place the card front inside the folder and tuck the back behind the folder.

Place the folder and card on top of the A plate and the door hanger at a diagonal on top of that. There are a few things that I want to point out:

~*~ The thickness of this hanger is slightly less than that of a B plate. It was close enough that I just eliminated the B plate that would normally go on top of the A plate. The idea is that less is better. I can always add a shim and run it through again if the embossing isn't crisp enough.

~*~ The hanger just barely covers the folder from corner to opposite corner. That's okay because these things tend to emboss a bit past the edges of the item being pressed onto the folder.

~*~ I also tried to position the stack so that none of the edges or corners stuck out past the edges of the A plate. If you have to have part of the hanger stick out past the edge, try to make it at the back end so that the folder has at least made it most of the way through the slot before you reach that point where something is sticking out. By then the stack will be loose and the back end will easily slide over and through the slot. Actually, my stack had moved a bit in the photo,and the corner that was cut off at the bottom actually did stick out past the left edge of the A plate. It all slid through just fine. But really, there was still enough room that everything could have fit without going past the side edges of the A plate.

Put the B plate on top, and it's ready to be rolled through the machine.

There's the Cuttled card front. You can stop there, or you can take it a bit further and do the corners, too. I went on to show how I embossed the corner below by partial Cuttling.

This time use both B plates to sandwich your folder as you normally would, but only stick that part of the corner that you want to emboss between the plates, as above.

Here it is once the corner has been Cuttled. I like to finish it off a bit by scoring along those edges where the design fades out. I use my Scor-It to make my score lines.

There's the first score line. Then I line it up for the second one.

I have some tips for doing this in more foolproof fashion than just trying to eyeball it as I did here, but I don't have photos yet. It's on my list though!

Here's that bottom corner looking more finished with the two scores making a sharper demarcation between the embossed and unembossed portions of the card front. You can put a sentiment there, or stamp a long decorative design, add ribbon.... whatever comes to mind. The other corner could be finished the same way.

I still feel that the long Sizzix plates gave me somewhat better results. I think the edges were a bit more crisp and I prefer the narrower plates. But I think for the difference in cost, this isn't a bad result at all. For Cuttlebug users who'd like to try some diagonal Cuttling and who don't have access to the long Sizzix plates, the wood door hanger makes a decent substitute even at full price. LOL!

Hi just discovered your blog, it was a god send, I have just been given 2 sets of nestablities and the tan mat, but I have no idea how to use them on my cuttlebug, acn you help me please, hope I am not a painHugs Jacqui aka Cats Whiskers

No problem, Jacqui, they're easy to use and you'll soon be having fun with them. You just need to have the right 'stack' to use them.

Starting from the bottom: plate A; then plate C; the die with the cutting side up--this would be the side with the ridge on it, not the smooth side; the card stock or paper, plate B. Roll this through your Cuttlebug and your shape or design should now be cut out. The die will cut into plate B, so don't be surprised, just think of it as a cutting board of sorts. If all you wanted is the shape cut out, then you're finished and you can remove your die cut from the die.

If you want to emboss your shape, leave it inside the die, but you'll need to modify your 'stack' as follows, again from the bottom up: plate A; plate B; the die with the die cut inside it; the tan embossing mat; then plate B. Roll that through the CB. Your die cut can now be removed from the die and you should see it nicely embossed.

Thank you, ShellyWorld! I try to keep things simple and would rather that folks be able to see what they need to know quickly rather than sit through a video that might be several minutes long. I love technology, but sometimes simpler is better.

As for the card stock, most of the time I use Walmart's Georgia Pacific. I noticed tonight that my current package is the Image Plus type and is 110#. It isn't a particularly heavy card stock, but the price is right for when I'm experimenting.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for taking the time to leave a comment. :-) Don't be surprised if your comment doesn't show up right away. Because of the amount of spam being posted these days, I've switched things over to moderated. Legitimate comments will be appreciated, approved, and published in a timely fashion.

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About Me

I'm a midwesterner who loves to read and garden. I grew up in Missouri and am still there some forty odd years later. I've been married to a wonderful guy for 22 years and am a stay-at-home Mom to two girls, who keep me on my toes while they dance on theirs. My current interests include digital photography and digital graphics, in addition to rubber stamping and card making. I also have a two year old buddy who keeps me company while I do all of this.